‘General Hospital’ tops at Daytime Emmys

ABC soap nabs five kudos

ABC’s ”General Hospital” was the big winner at the 39th annual Daytime Emmys, taking five kudos including top drama series.

Lead actor in a drama series went to the show’s Anthony Geary, giving him a record-setting seventh Daytime Emmy in the category. One of four ”General Hospital” nominees in the supporting actor category, Jonathan Jackson, took that prize, giving Jackson his second trophy in the category and his last before he goes to primetime TV on ABC’s ”Nashville.”

In addition, Nancy Lee Grahn of ”General Hospital” won her second Daytime Emmy, for drama supporting actress, and the show also won for top drama directing team.

The 128-minute ceremony was broadcast from the Beverly Hilton by HLN.

Lead drama actress went to Heather Tom of CBS’ ”The Bold and the Beautiful,” making her the first to win younger, supporting and lead actress trophies at the Daytime Emmys. Christel Khalil of CBS’ ”The Young and the Restless,” won younger drama actress for the first time after four noms.

Top drama writing kudos went to NBC’s ”Days of Our Lives,” its second win in the category (amid 15 nominations) and first since 1976. Chandler Massey gave ”Days” another trophy, for younger drama actor.

In the one-on-one morning show category, the big honor went to ”Today” over ”Good Morning America” , a different kind of headline for the NBC ayem show after days of headlines surrounding the future of co-host Ann Curry.

On its 10th nomination for top entertainment talkshow, ”Live with Regis and Kelly” won its first Emmy in the category, half a year after co-host Regis Philbin’s departure. (Philbin’s final appearance on the show was the episode submitted.) Philbin and Kelly Ripa also shared the award for top talkshow host.

Exec producer Michael Gelman said that the show is getting closer to choosing a new co-host for Ripa, but they are ”not in a real time crunch” and ”still wouldn’t call anything a shortlist yet.”

Syndicated ”Dr. Oz” won its second Emmy in a row for informative talkshow, while ”Jeopardy” won for the 14th time in the gameshow/audience participation category, after tying with ”Wheel of Fortune” a year ago. The program has 113 all-time Daytime Emmy nominations across all categories.

”After all these years, we’re not only surviving, we’re thriving,” said ”Jeopardy” exec producer Harry Friedman.

Top gameshow host went to Todd Newton of the Hub’s ”Family Game Night,” his first victory in the category (on his second nom).

Food Network won two Emmys, with ”Bobby Flay’s Barbecue Addiction” drawing the honor for top culinary program and Sandra Lee of ”Semi-Homemade Cooking” winning her first Daytime Emmy for lifestyle/culinary host.

In a matchup of four first-time nominees, the top legal/courtroom program honor went to ”Last Shot with Judge Gunn.”

Three Nick shows and three PBS shows were nommed for children’s animated program; the winner was Nick’s ”Penguins of Madagascar.” Kevin Clash, aka Elmo of PBS’ ”Sesame Street,” won his eighth Emmy for top performer in a children’s series and 23rd overall.

In the category of new approaches in entertainment, the Daytime Emmy went to interactive web show ”Take This Lollipop,” which beat out ”The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” ”The Clarence Update – The Bold and the Beautiful” and ”Today.”

Thanks to ”General Hospital,” ABC was the most-honored network on the night. Combined with its eight Daytime Emmys at the Creative Arts ceremony June 17, the Alphabet net won 13 in all. That left it one shy of PBS, whose one Emmy on Saturday gave it 14 overall, including six for ”Sesame Street.”